VACATION, maybe? (part 1)

We left for Utah on March 15th for a baby blessing. Tim’s brother, Ryan and his wife Rachel, had a little girl, Connie, in February. They decided to bless the baby on March 17.
All went well on the drive up there. The boys were good the whole way but like us all, ready to get OUT OF THE CAR! after a 14 hr drive. They were especially excited to see Grandpa and Grandma. We stayed at a hotel, which gave us all plenty of room, mostly…. Grandpa and Grandma had Pach and Pickle stay with them, so they were full but Tim and I got our own beds as we only had Bacon in the pack-n-play in our room.
SUNDAY was the blessing and it was nice. I didn’t actually hear any of it as I had Bacon in the foyer, keeping him entertained and somewhat quiet. Basically there just wasn’t anyone around to distract is all. Then he threw-up. Yep, all over the floor. Somehow he missed the couch, his shoes, my shoes, the diaper bag, etc. I got Tim and he found all the stuff to clean it up. We thought it was a one time thing but on hindsight, it was a bad omen!!
After church we headed back to the hotel to change and then just hang out. Tim, Grandpa and the boys headed to a nearby park to play and stay out of the house. Grandma held baby Connie, while Ryan and Rachel slept and I just hung out.
MONDAY was a nice day. All the boys slept with Grandpa and Grandma so Tim and I could leave early and go skiing! A mostly all day date! It was really fun! We went to Alta. I had only been skiing once before, years ago with an ex-boyfriend who made it as horrible as possible. Tim set the whole thing up and got to spend a lot of time skiing, which he has done his whole life. After we got our ski gear, we headed down to where I would be having my ski class. I went down a little slope with him coaching me and back up via the rope pull. Not really that much fun (the rope pull). It about yanked my arm off!!!  I decided I was done until my class started. I needed to conserve energy and the rope pull was not going to help with that!
As we sat waiting a few instructors came by, asked if we were going to take a class, if I’d been skiing before, etc. I told them, “Yes, I am taking a class. I went skiing a long time ago, once down a bunny hill. I just went down that little hill right there.” They each looked at me and said if I could go down that little hill without falling I should be in a different class, so I got bumped up! I had been in the beginners class but was bumped up to the “green” class. Yippee!!
My ski instructor was Jim from Chicago. He teaches skiing in the winters and gives tours of Wrigley Field in the Spring/Summer. There were just two of us in the class, a girl named Gemma from England. We laughed so hard! It was really a lot of fun. He made skiing look so easy! It definitely wasn’t as hard as I had thought but not as easy as he made it look! Eventually he said we were good enough to go on an actual run, so off we went!
I made it down but had a few problems and needed help. I was a little bummed about that. My knee had been hurting since the half-marathon I ran earlier in the month. However, it had felt good for the previous 2 to 3 days so I thought it would do ok but it didn’t. By the end of the 2 1/2 hours my left thigh would spasm every time I my left leg to turn on and my knee wasn’t holding up. To turn right you push with your left foot, kind of like you would on roller blades or ice skates. Anyway, my knee wouldn’t hold and I ended up falling. By that point my left leg was done but I still had half a run left!! Jim came and helped me. He ended up skiing backwards, holing onto one end of the poles, while I skied forward while holding the other end of the poles on my hips. He would push on the poles help me turn and get down the hill. And my left leg still didn’t want to cooperate!! But we made it! And that was it for me. I had fun but my leg wasn’t going to do anything anymore. It was sore for a couple days :(

Tim had been skiing the entire time I was in my class. We had both hoped to ski one run together but we couldn’t. But all that means is we have to go skiing again another time. So it’s not all bad. I changed into shoes and read while he skied for another hour. We both had a lot of fun and it was a fun day!

Me all ready to go!

Somewhere at Alta.

Somewhere at Alta.

Somewhere at Alta.

It was a fun time!

We headed back and ended up going swimming with most of Tim’s family. The boys were swimming with Grandma and Grandpa when we got back, so we joined them. Then Tim’s sister, Sarah and her husband Fred joined us with their little girl, who the boys have named Baby Jessie (after Jessie in Toy Story 2). It was a great fun! Totally physical and exhausting for us but a lot of fun!
And just because life can never be dull with little children, as Sarah and family sat around our hotel room with our family eating Cafe Rio, Bacon grabbed Tim’s Apple Beer and spilled it all over himself and the floor! The bottle also got him in the face. Never a dull moment with him!